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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Recently, PAS held a huge gathering at Padang Merbok in KL. It
called it the H355 gathering. It is named after the Act 355 which gives powers
to the Islamic courts to carry out certain punishments. Haji Hadi wants to
revise these powers.

PAS supporters came from all over the country. Many were given
transportation. They set up camp on Padang Merbok. They spread plastic mats on
the grass where they ate from styrofoam boxes and and drank mineral water. Some huddled at any
place they could muster and ate squatting. Later they performed prayers on huge mats spread on
the padang. Meanwhile, the leaders ate and drank in special VVIP Tent
structures. There they ate on tables complete with table spreads and food
warmers and fine dining ware.In PASdom , there is strict hierarchy too.

It was a gathering to show support for Haji Hadi’s private members
bill. In May 2016, he presented a motion before parliament to amend Act 355. In
late 2016, he placed before parliament a motion to amend his original motion. Both
times, the proposed amendment to ACT 355 was not debated. It only reached the
state of moving a motion. The motion itself was amended, but the Act is yet to be
touched.

The Act 355 remains as it is. Islamic courts in the states of Malaya
are still permitted to jail an offender
for 3 years, fined him for RM5000 and caned him with 6 lashes. Not enough says Haji Hadi- brutalise them more. Can jail up to 30 years, can impose a fine up to RM100,000 and can cane up to 100 lashes.

This is purely a political move by PAS to restore its sagging credibility. Some people wanted to push for an amended or watered down version of ACT 355. Some people say that putting limits makes for a better Islam.

People asked Haji Hadi, why didn't he allow debate? He answered to give more time for people to understand the issues. With the passage of time, the understanding
about the bill became more muddled. We are always warned not to question the
intention of the bill- to further the commandments of God. Haji Hadi himself is a cause for the confusion.

So Haji Hadi is doing a strange thing. He has not debated in parliament.
He is bringing his motion before the public who don’t understand what is going on.
Then he says to the people, the bill is opposed by some MPs notably from Amanah
dan DAP. He says these people are anti Islam. He is preaching hate to the congregation.

Why has he not debated the bill when he had the opportunity? Instead he is using his motion to preach hatred and divisiveness. Its not confined to non Muslims as his preaching involves Muslims who do not agree with him.

UMNO likes it that way. It appears that there have been extensive negotiations behind closed
doors between PAS and UMNO to ensure passage of the emotion to become a bill. So
when parliament convenes in March 2017, we can expect the motion to be spoken
of by Haji Hadi, put to the vote and then accepted as First Reading. After that,
the government will adopt it as second reading, have it debated and then put it
to the vote.

But perhaps Haji Hadi forgot that after being accepted as first reading,
the DPM has promised to set up a joint committee to examine the technicalities
of the proposed amended Bill. What does this mean? This means, even before getting on as Second Reading,
BN is still delaying accepting the motion as Bill. So, it is really the BN
especially the UMNO ministers who are slowing down Hadi’s private ambition
bill. Are they not faithful enough?

The party that stands in the way of the amended bill is the
government of the day. Now, because the government of the day is working
closely with PAS to have the bill become law, why was the gathering held?
Surely with the support of the government, PAS will succeed.

UMNO has 86 members in parliament. UMNO can arm twist MCA and MIC
members and non Muslim MPs of BN to support the bill. They are so attached to
their positions as ministers to stand opposed to the Bill. They do not give two
hoots about what their supporters think of them. So despite their bravado and
brinkmanship, believe me when I say, all those humpty dumpties in MCA, MIC and
Gerakan will capitulate. Then they will give all sorts of monkey reasons.

After that, the Islamic courts will get more powers. Salaries of
those people who have not been industrious enough will be raised. Perhaps the senior
judges get to use Mercedes cars and other facilities to make them of similar
stature like civil court judges.The Islamic courts can then impose a fine of
RM100, 000, jail people for 30 years and whipped the buttocks of offenders with
100 lashes. Then I suppose Islam will be more revered. Muslims are brutalised
and traumatised.That is OK, because that promotes the exaltation of Islam. Never mind that Muslims in Malaysia are the poorest segment of society, never mind the reality they lacked skills, training and even social skills.

So on that Saturday, a large number of people turned up. They are the faithful, supporters of the
Islamic cause. They believed PAS is the party that best represents them.
Although this belief is not universally shared, the supporters are entitled to
believe it.

Because of the crowd and the vehement speeches that followed, someone
writes that PAS is a force to be reckoned with. I do not agree with this
assessment. PAS has more than 1 million members. Only 20,000 who turned up were
probably pas members and included children from some madrasahs. The rest around 5,000 to 10,000 were people who belonged
to various NGOs. For a party that boasts of a membership of more than 1 million,
they must accept the gathering as a dismal failure.

So contrary to the view that PAS is a force to be reckoned with;
UMNO now knows PAS is a paper tiger. The party does not have the resources to
mobilise as many people as the organisers of Bersih did. But more importantly, it also means, people
attach more importance to the objectives of Bersih than the objectives of PAS. Many more Muslims believe that the way to make Islam great is not trough the PAS method. You cannot force your views and version on a reluctant public.

The gathering organised by PAS with a little help from friend UMNO
was really a gathering of two groups of supremacists. The Malay supremacists in
the form of UMNO and the Islamic supremacists represented by PAS.

A Malay supremacist is a Malay who thinks he has a birthright over
everything before everyone else. The Muslim supremacist is the Muslim who
believes that his version of Islam is the only one.

Those who refuse to accept UMNO’s narrative of things are not Malay
enough, traitor to the Malay race, running dog to the Malay enemies. Those who
do not accept PAS’s version on how to make Islam great, are not true believers and are condemned
roundly.

UMNO and present day PAS, stand on the same foundation; a form a
supremacist ideology. UMNO has chosen its version of racial purity and PAS
chose its version of religious purity. A long time ago, in the history of
mankind, there was a mad man who wanted to establish an empire based on racial
and religious purity. His name was Adolph Hitler.

The gathering was a show of
strength and a warning to others not to challenge the ‘idea’ of Islam retailed
by PAS all these years.

But the gathering revealed another aspect of the reality in Malaysia:-UMNO does not have a
monopoly on Malay-ness and PAS does not have a monopoly on Islamic-ness.

7
comments:

1 million members, assume 50,000 turn up that is 5% . Najib allowed this to understand the strength of PAS, it is clear that PAS is only a paper tiger, Najib can twists PAS's hand anyway he likes. Surely a deal has been done to have multi covered fights so BN can win again.

I differ in my analysis, Felda is no more a fixed deposit for BN, Sabah Sarawak is not one either, therefore the only way they can win is by cheating. That is what they are doing.

I stil remember when the first bridge was built over the Pahang River in the 70s' during the days of THe Late Tun Razak. It had many many pylons, about 14 I think. One bad flood and the bridge was washed away. The bridge was rebuilt and this time it had only one pylon in the centre. Till this day the bridge stands.

When asked whether he himself will execute a Syariah court order to lop off an arm, the mufti actually grinned and said he will outsource the job. So we can ask Hadi and his troopers if they will volunteer to be the first to lop off arms to show their piety. Why not? Make it as public a display as the rally to show they have the guts to walk their talk of conviction that more punishment paves more piety. More importantly, we want to know when they are doing it, will they be grinning.

Why is all this a problem? Just one statement made by one of the rally attendees already shows it is a real spectre for all Malaysians. He said the Muslims control both the government and the constitution. In his mind is only the Islamic state of a Pas-controlled Malaysia. But in the minds of millions not just here but around the world, the term 'islamic state' denotes something else more sinister and Pas has never once convinced anyone including Muslims that it doesn't have the designs of the other IS somewhere in its master-plan to alpha-islamize Malaysia. Exactly how many Malaysian Muslims have already died in the Middle East and caused suffering in Indonesia and more importantly to what end? So that an islamic state can be started tomorrow that can one day progress to upholding honour killing like in Pakistan or stoning to death and beheading like in Saudi Arabia?

Pas leadership may insist hudud covers only Muslims. How then will a Syariah court treat evidence submitted by non-Muslim victims of Muslim crimes? And what if a crime is jointly committed by a Muslim and a non-Muslim? On what equivalent legal platform will justice be dispensed?

So Pas next says it is just to increase the punishment to deter. If 100 lashes is now justified to replace 10 lashes, why wasn't 100 lashes adopted in the first place if it is in accordance with the Quran unless they are actually saying someone among them can arbitrarily decide what to apply independent of what the religion mandates is a deterrent.

Furthermore, they retort that under secular law, drug trafficking mandates the death penalty so why not under Syariah law something similar. Is such thinking because they relish corporal punishment so much that they cannot accept it under a law already provided for that does not emanate from a court of their creation?

In other words, since they are moving to replace secular law with Syariah law for Muslims, are they saying theocratic deterrence will be more successful than secular deterrence even if both are the same punishment?

Let's say it is; then there will be a problem in the case of a bucolic Muslim and a rambo non-Muslim where both are meted the same punishment. The Muslim dies because he is weak so how is he to repent to save his soul? The rambo lives because he can take the pain so does that mean he being a non-Muslim will lose his soul despite the same punishment? Therefore is Pas saying only through Islam can a human soul be saved? If yes, how can any Muslim as defined by Pas be qualified to administrate a country made of Muslims and non-Muslims? Is at least half the population of this country automatically consigned to eternal damnation? Including malay Muslim's in name only?

The issue is beyond what Pas is trying to sell. If Muslims do wrong, it is because the religious leaders have failed. The type of consistency they have been drumming is only a figment of their self-deluding imagination. Otherwise they would have told themselves to go fly kites the moment Tok Aziz died and Hadi's group emerged to show its true colors of political ambition cloaked as religious fervor.

If corruption ergo stealing is a crime under Islam, why is Pas with Umno and Hadi supportive of the N's? To this day, they have never explained that to anyone. They have not because they could not expose their intention to take over the government using the religious ticket.

And anyone can see how religious fervor can suspend all rational thought. In the Malays wont to run on a fly high on emotions only, it is extremely dangerous for the future of Malaysia since security and law enforcement are majority Muslims as well so that far from being some envisioned theocratic harmony, it can become a social time-bomb in the end because it brooks no dissent. As a result, we get the bonus of a totalitarian wahhabism wrapped around a worldclass kleptocracy operating in a society filled with the fearful slaving in an economy down the drain of a country no better than a pariah failed state formerly a tiger of Asia now consigned to be a hairless pussycat. And as for our Malays, the new credential is dewat. Dedaked but liwated.

Our poor Malays, conned by their own. Battered here by race, there by religion. They already have enough daily problems trying to make a living than to have two yokes around their necks sinking them deeper into more troubled waters. And Pas has the nerve to scare them further by tarring dissenters as wolves. More critically, what type of paintbrush was used to tar, one wonders?